Late at night.
On the top floor of Vought Tower.
Madelyn held a glass of red wine, savoring the hard-won peace and quiet.
Ever since she had become the source of the maternal love Homelander had lacked, she had not enjoyed a moment alone in peace for a long time.
Boom!
The enormous floor-to-ceiling windows of the office suddenly exploded.
A gale swept shards of glass into the room, tearing the expensive wool carpet on the floor to shreds.
Madelyn screamed in fright. Her wineglass crashed to the floor and shattered, splashing wine all over her dress.
A figure hurtled inside and fell heavily into the wreckage.
It was Homelander.
His usually immaculate blond hair was now blackened and curled, giving off the stench of burnt flesh.
The stars-and-stripes cape that symbolized a god among men had been reduced to a rag.
Even more terrifying to Madelyn, two streaks of dried blood marked Homelander's flawless face.
Homelander had bled?
Vought's finest creation, the invincible Homelander, had actually been hurt!
Madelyn felt the world spin, disbelief written all over her face.
He was the ultimate weapon, impervious even to a nuclear bomb. What could have left him in such a state?
Was it today's mission?
Homelander scrambled forward and threw himself at her, wrapping both arms tightly around Madelyn's thighs, his whole body shaking violently.
"Monster... Madelyn, that monster really will kill me!"
Homelander buried his face against Madelyn's lower belly, his voice thick with tears. There was no trace of his usual arrogance.
Madelyn fought back the chill that made her scalp tingle.
She reached out to stroke his head of scorched blond hair and opened her clothing at the chest, soothing Homelander as though he were a baby.
She spoke softly to him, but her mind was already in turmoil.
She had to find out what had happened.
Early the next morning.
Vought's highest-level conference room.
Several of Vought's shareholders and executives looked at one another, their eyes full of shock.
On the enormous holographic screen, footage of the laboratory reduced to rubble played on a loop.
The Deep had been severely injured in the explosion and was receiving treatment. Having fled the battlefield early, he had no valuable information either.
All that remained at the scene of the battle were corpses strewn across the ground and a few fragments suspected to be from Translucent's carbon skin.
President Edgar sat at the head of the table, his chin resting on his interlaced hands.
His gaze behind his glasses was unfathomable.
Madelyn stood beside the screen, her face ashen as she reported the losses.
Homelander had changed into a new suit and was huddled in a corner like a quail, his gaze drifting uncontrollably toward the floor.
Edgar tapped his fingers against the solid wood tabletop, producing an unnerving clicking sound.
"We've lost half of the Seven, and even Homelander came away with a bloody nose. Can someone tell me where this guy came from?"
Edgar looked around the room. No one dared meet his eyes.
Gritting her teeth, Madelyn proposed mobilizing all their armed forces immediately to eliminate the mutant at any cost.
Edgar let out a harsh, derisive laugh.
"Eliminate it? With what? With our Homelander, who runs home to Mommy after a little nosebleed? Or with the Seven?"
He shot to his feet and braced both hands on the table, his powerful presence bearing down on everyone in the room.
"Someone who can stand against Homelander. Do you idiots still not understand what that means?"
The executives collectively held their breath, their eyes following Edgar's every move, terrified of angering the mercurial tyrant.
"It means Vought International has discovered a new gold mine!"
Mad greed gleamed in Edgar's eyes, and his voice rose sharply.
"Anything with desires can be bought. Why did it raid the laboratory? It must have had a purpose. According to The Deep and Homelander, it devoured the superpowers of two test subjects. What does that mean?"
"If we can just figure out how it did that, we can completely dominate the rules by which this world operates!"
The outrageous declaration left everyone dumbstruck.
After witnessing such apocalyptic destructive power, was the president really thinking only of how to bring the monster under his control?
Who was the crazier one here?
Homelander jerked his head up, his blue eyes full of disbelief and resentment, yet he did not dare utter a single word of protest.
Being made to work alongside a monster like that would be worse than death for him.
Edgar sat back down, then abruptly changed tack, his tone icy.
"But before we recruit it, we still have some internal matters to sort out."
Edgar motioned for Madelyn to continue the meeting, and A-Train's photo appeared on the big screen.
"A-Train escaped the club attack without a scratch. We didn't think anything of it before, but looking at it now, A-Train may have hidden quite a lot. He didn't report that the monster could gain abilities by eating superhumans."
Madelyn caught on at once and drew a sharp breath.
"Are you saying A-Train had already turned traitor? Or that he concealed the most crucial, potentially fatal piece of intelligence from the very beginning?"
Edgar gave his orders in a cold, hard voice.
"Raise surveillance on A-Train to the highest level. Give the surveillance team maximum clearance and resources, and don't tip him off under any circumstances. I want to know exactly what disgusting role that speedy little rat is playing in this game."
Night fell.
The Female's apartment.
Wearing A-Train's face, Chen Mo lounged lazily on the leather sofa.
Several vials of high-purity compound V lay scattered across the coffee table.
These were the rations he had earned through his hard work last night.
Vought should be in an uproar by now, right?
At the thought of Homelander probably crying as he ran home to Mommy, Chen Mo could not help laughing aloud.
At last, he no longer had to fear anyone in this world. He could do whatever he wanted without holding back.
He had gone from matching wits and courage with street thugs to being able to stand against Homelander.
It had only been a few days. Blacklight really delivered.
A rustling sound came from nearby.
Charlotte, wearing a lace nightgown with a pitifully small amount of fabric, raised her head from beneath the coffee table.
Gulp.
She nestled obediently against her lover's chest, her finger tracing circles on his blue-and-black suit.
"Darling, you won so easily today. Your position in the Seven must be even more secure now."
Charlotte tilted her face up, her eyes full of infatuation.
A cruel, wicked smile curved Chen Mo's lips.
He slipped his left arm around her slender waist, then picked up his red wine with his right hand and drained it in one gulp.
"Of course it's more secure."
Chen Mo lowered his head and leaned close to Charlotte's ear, his warm breath brushing her fair neck.
"Those idiots at Vought International are about to give me an enormous surprise."
Charlotte could not hear the deadly killing intent in his words at all.
She was delighted, thinking her lover was finally about to gain a firm footing at Vought and that they would soon be able to make their relationship public.
Her face flushed with excitement, the woman lowered her head again without hesitation.
Chen Mo leaned back on the sofa.
"Whew, I still need to think about how to have some fun with them at the meeting."